India’s Gaming and Interactive Media Market Set to Triple by FY2030 to almost $8 Billion - Report

BITKRAFT Ventures, a leading global investment platform for gaming and interactive entertainment, today announced the release of a report powered by Redseer Strategy Consultants, forecasting high growth in India's gaming and interactive media sector, despite the ban on real money gaming. The study reveals that the segment, already a key engine in India’s digital media & entertainment space, is projected to triple in size, reaching $7.7 Billion by FY2030.

The report, "The Gaming and Interactive Media Opportunity in India," highlights that these segments are growing approximately 1.5 times faster than the overall digital media and entertainment market, fueled by India’s massive, young user base, nano-transactions, high smartphone engagement, and shifting consumer behavior toward interactive and personalized content.

Key Market Projections: A Structural Shift Towards Casual and Interactive Content

The analysis underscores a pivotal moment for the Indian digital ecosystem, driven by regulatory changes that have cleared the path for mainstream casual gaming and esports:

Gaming Market Resilience: Despite regulatory intervention concerning online money gaming (RMG), the digital gaming sector is set to thrive. This market alone is projected to nearly double, reaching approximately $4.5 Billion by FY2030 and esports is expected to triple at $120 million by 2030.

• Hybrid Casual, the new format with similar Mid-core game-like progression and deeper meta systems is emerging as a key segment. 
• The Battle Royale genre continues to enable most monetisation.
• While the market is nearly equally split between ads and IAPs (In-App Purchases), the balance is expected to heavily tip towards IAPs in the next 5 years with ~6X growth.

Interactive Media Surge: Disruptor segments within interactive media are poised for exponential growth, expanding from an estimated $440 Million in FY2025 to $3.2 Billion by FY2030. Fastest-growing sectors include:Astro & Devotional Tech: Projected to grow 8x to $1.3 Billion by FY2030, digitizing a massive offline market through 1:1 consultations.

• Micro Drama: A nascent but high-potential segment mirroring successful models in China, expected to reach $1.1 Billion by FY2030 by capitalizing on short, serialized mobile-first video content.
• Audio Streaming: Expected to quadruple to $300 Million by FY2030, driven by high user engagement and localized content strategies.

The India Opportunity: Vernacularization and Social Connection

The report emphasizes that growth is increasingly driven by the ‘Bharat’ audience (Tier 2+ segments), who seek vernacular content, social identity through gaming communities, and new avenues for social connection. AI is also emerging as a key enabler, significantly lowering content creation costs and accelerating local game development.

Jens Hilgers, Founding General Partner at BITKRAFT Ventures: "India represents perhaps the most compelling greenfield opportunity globally. The confluence of a digitally native youth demographic, established mobile infrastructure, and massive scale is creating what we believe to be a hyper-growth environment. In our view, this is an inflection point, positioning India as a true global powerhouse for interactive entertainment."

Anuj Tandon, Partner, India & UAE at BITKRAFT Ventures: "It’s exciting to see India’s gaming sector entering a phase of durable growth, with local developers creating innovative and monetizable experiences that are beginning to resonate globally. We’re witnessing strong momentum across casual and hybrid-core titles, fueled by rising player engagement, new IP creation, and increasingly accessible payment ecosystems. Together, these factors are helping define the next chapter of India’s gaming and interactive media industry.”

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE.

About BITKRAFT Ventures

BITKRAFT Ventures is a global investment platform at the intersection of games, immersive technology, digital assets, and AI. With over $1B in assets under management and more than 130 portfolio companies, BITKRAFT is built by founders for founders. The firm leverages deep domain expertise, a decentralized global presence, and institutional-grade infrastructure to back visionary teams building in interactive media and adjacent verticals. BITKRAFT’s core belief is that gaming is not just the largest entertainment sector—it is a catalyst for consumer and technology innovation and a blueprint for the future of digital experiences.

About Redseer Strategy Consultants

Redseer Strategy Consultants was founded in 2009 with a vision to provide data-backed recommendations and strategic guidance to businesses, investors, and policymakers operating in dynamic and data-deficient markets. Since then, they have become one of the leading advisory firms in India, MENA, SEA helping businesses, specifically in consumer-facing industries, navigate and accelerate their growth journeys. With a deep-rooted understanding of consumer behavior and market shifts. Redseer delivers growth-focused solutions across diverse industries, including digital media, retail, food, 828 and 8FSI. Their expertise is powered by 15+ years of IP in emerging markets, enabling them to generate BITKRAFT Ventures, a leading global investment platform for gaming and interactive entertainment, today announced the release of a report powered by Redseer Strategy Consultants, forecasting high growth in India's gaming and interactive media sector, despite the ban on real money gaming. The study reveals that the segment, already a key engine in India’s digital media & entertainment space, is projected to triple in size, reaching $7.7 Billion by FY2030

The report, "The Gaming and Interactive Media Opportunity in India," highlights that these segments are growing approximately 1.5 times faster than the overall digital media and entertainment market, fueled by India’s massive, young user base, nano-transactions, high smartphone engagement, and shifting consumer behavior toward interactive and personalized content.

Key Market Projections: A Structural Shift Towards Casual and Interactive Content

The analysis underscores a pivotal moment for the Indian digital ecosystem, driven by regulatory changes that have cleared the path for mainstream casual gaming and esports:

Gaming Market Resilience: Despite regulatory intervention concerning online money gaming (RMG), the digital gaming sector is set to thrive. This market alone is projected to nearly double, reaching approximately $4.5 Billion by FY2030 and esports is expected to triple at $120 million by 2030.

• Hybrid Casual, the new format with similar Mid-core game-like progression and deeper meta systems is emerging as a key segment
• The Battle Royale genre continues to enable most monetisation.
• While the market is nearly equally split between ads and IAPs (In-App Purchases), the balance is expected to heavily tip towards IAPs in the next 5 years with ~6X growth.

Interactive Media Surge: Disruptor segments within interactive media are poised for exponential growth, expanding from an estimated $440 Million in FY2025 to $3.2 Billion by FY2030. Fastest-growing sectors include:

• Astro & Devotional Tech: Projected to grow 8x to $1.3 Billion by FY2030, digitizing a massive offline market through 1:1 consultations.
• Micro Drama: A nascent but high-potential segment mirroring successful models in China, expected to reach $1.1 Billion by FY2030 by capitalizing on short, serialized mobile-first video content.
• Audio Streaming: Expected to quadruple to $300 Million by FY2030, driven by high user engagement and localized content strategies.

The India Opportunity: Vernacularization and Social Connection

The report emphasizes that growth is increasingly driven by the ‘Bharat’ audience (Tier 2+ segments), who seek vernacular content, social identity through gaming communities, and new avenues for social connection. AI is also emerging as a key enabler, significantly lowering content creation costs and accelerating local game development.

Jens Hilgers, Founding General Partner at BITKRAFT Ventures: "India represents perhaps the most compelling greenfield opportunity globally. The confluence of a digitally native youth demographic, established mobile infrastructure, and massive scale is creating what we believe to be a hyper-growth environment. In our view, this is an inflection point, positioning India as a true global powerhouse for interactive entertainment."

Anuj Tandon, Partner, India & UAE at BITKRAFT Ventures: "It’s exciting to see India’s gaming sector entering a phase of durable growth, with local developers creating innovative and monetizable experiences that are beginning to resonate globally. We’re witnessing strong momentum across casual and hybrid-core titles, fueled by rising player engagement, new IP creation, and increasingly accessible payment ecosystems. Together, these factors are helping define the next chapter of India’s gaming and interactive media industry.”

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE.

About BITKRAFT Ventures

BITKRAFT Ventures is a global investment platform at the intersection of games, immersive technology, digital assets, and AI. With over $1B in assets under management and more than 130 portfolio companies, BITKRAFT is built by founders for founders. The firm leverages deep domain expertise, a decentralized global presence, and institutional-grade infrastructure to back visionary teams building in interactive media and adjacent verticals. BITKRAFT’s core belief is that gaming is not just the largest entertainment sector—it is a catalyst for consumer and technology innovation and a blueprint for the future of digital experiences. For a full list of public investments made to date, view BITKRAFT’s portfolio here.

About Redseer Strategy Consultants

Redseer Strategy Consultants was founded in 2009 with a vision to provide data-backed recommendations and strategic guidance to businesses, investors, and policymakers operating in dynamic and data-deficient markets. Since then, they have become one of the leading advisory firms in India, MENA, SEA helping businesses, specifically in consumer-facing industries, navigate and accelerate their growth journeys. With a deep-rooted understanding of consumer behavior and market shifts. Redseer delivers growth-focused solutions across diverse industries, including digital media, retail, food, 828 and 8FSI. Their expertise is powered by 15+ years of IP in emerging markets, enabling them to generate unparalleled insights for their clients. Redseer is known for its proprietary methodologies, deep consumer understanding, high-quality research, and an entrepreneurial mindset. Having a strong presence in India, Middle East. Southeast Asia, USA and UK, with headquarters in Bengaluru. Know more: www.redseer.com insights for their clients. Redseer is known for its proprietary methodologies, deep consumer understanding, high-quality research, and an entrepreneurial mindset. Having a strong presence in India, Middle East. Southeast Asia, USA and UK, with headquarters in Bengaluru. Know more: www.redseer.com

All projections and market forecasts are provided by Redseer Strategy Consultants and are subject to change. They do not constitute guarantees of future performance and should not be construed as indicative of BITKRAFT’s investment results. This material is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Projections and statements of opinion reflect those of the referenced third-party research provider and/or BITKRAFT Ventures at the time of publication and are subject to change. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

50% of Indian Unicorns Profitable by FY27— Redseer Report

According to a recent report by Redseer, approximately 50% of unicorns are expected to become profitable by FY27, while approximately 20% will likely to struggle due to regulatory challenges, plummeting demand, and unclear business models.

Projecting four years down the line, Redseer’s analysis of 100 unicorns suggests substantial improvement in profitability, with the number of profitable unicorns projected to grow from approximately 30 unicorns in FY22 to approximately 55 in FY27.

The report points out that some of the struggling unicorns will pivot to new models, get acquired, or close entirely by FY27.

Redseer’s 'Path to Profitability' report further says that Indian start-up world is truly in the midst of a funding winter. An increasing cost of capital and interest rates, recession in developed markets, a decline in the value of tech stocks, and the slowdown in consumer internet growth have all contributed to the decline in funding, observes Mohit Rana, partner, Redseer.

The top four sectors expected to drive the highest pool of profit in the coming years are FinTech and financial services, B2B, SaaS, and eCommerce, predicts the report.

The report highlights EBITDA margins of PolicyBazaar, Delhivery, PayTM, Zomato, and CarTrade. All of theselisted companies have significantly brought down their losses each quarter. Cartrade has managed to become profitable in Q2 FY23.

Further, the report also highlights that ownership of founders in startups is also limited (0-20%) in 59% of private companies, as compared to public companies (50%+) in 65% of public companies.

According to the reports, listed tech companies like Paytm, Zomato, PolicyBazaar and Delhivery have made significant improvement over the last five quarters.

While Paytm has launched new products to expand its business in new segments. To increase the revenue per customer and reduce the CAC, the company has upsold/ cross-selling to existing customers.

Zomato has increased take rates from restaurant partners and delivery cost from customers. This month, Zomato rival Swiggy acquired LYNK, a Chennai-based logistics platform for brand owners

Policybazaar has cut its losses by reducing cost-of-customer-acquisition (CAC) related marketing expenses.

Delhivery took on backward integration by acquiring full-stack solutions across the value chain. To recall, in December last year Delhivery acquires the Pune-based Algorhythm Tech Pvt. Ltd. that delivers intelligent planning & optimization solutions for enterprise supply chain operations. In May this year, Delhivery made a strategic investment in Vinculum, a global software leader enabling omnichannel retailing for D2C enterprises, brands, brand distributors, and quick commerce companies. 

Indian Startups Now Take 5 Yrs to Reach $100 Million from Zero in Revenue Comparing To 18 Yrs Earlier

Indian Startups are now taking about five years to reach $100 million in revenue. This information is given in a report released on Thursday. With the ecosystem maturing over the past decade, the time it takes to reach the $ 100 million mark has been significantly reduced। It took 18 years to reach revenue of $ 100 million in 2000, which has now been five years, according to data from Redseer Strategy Consultants.

The report further said, "There are about 100 unicorns and 170 sunicorns in India। Of these 270 shining stars, more than 40 startups in fintech, ecommerce and logistics have exceeded $ 100 million in revenue by FY 2022। "It has taken 5 to 12 years for these startups to reach this scale."

The report noted that on current valuations, it gives about 4.5 times the return on their investment for VCs. Rohan Agarwal, partner of Redseer Strategy Consultants, said, "Tam extension customized solutions, fit product market, improve profitability and operational efficiency, Our industry experts help take startups to heights and solve their challenges.

There are about 12,000 startups in India, whose revenue classification is less than ( 10 million dollars ), Growth stage ranges from ( $ 100 million ) to large ( 100 million dollars to over $ 1 billion ). Of these, 95% are in the emerging category, 3-4% are in the growth phase and less than 0.5% of companies are large.

Venture capital has played a critical role in assisting start-ups to reach the revenue milestone. Moreover, investors add tremendous value to the companies they fund. In addition, the knowledge of governance, financial prudence, and networks brought by VCs is invaluable for start-ups.

In the last 15 years (CY 2008 to CY2022), VCs have invested about $143 billion in the start-up ecosystem, which is currently valued at $804 billion. At current valuation, it translates to an approximately 4.5x return for VCs on their investments, as noted in the study.

Factors such as inadequate profitability and operational, organisational, and governance limitations are the main problems that cause start-ups to fail.

Indian E-Commerce Industry To Grow at 60% in 2018: RedSeer Report

E-commerce industry of India is estimated to grow at 60 percent to about $28.5 billion in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2018, according to a report by Redseer.

Indian online shopping industry is expected to return to high growth next year as large players such as Amazon, Flipkart and Paytm Mall begin to look beyond the 20 million customers who shop online on a monthly basis. Industry analyst RedSeer Consulting pegs the online shopping industry’s growth at 23 per cent to $17.8 billion in 2017.

“Once Flipkart raised money, they began spending aggressively and going after market share growth, prompting Amazon to follow. If you see growth this year, it was much higher in the second half compared to the first half. This strong growth in the second half will be the base for growth next year,” said Anil Kumar, chief executive officer, RedSeer Consulting.

While Flipkart’s growth had slowed due to unavailability of funds in 2016, a bigger detriment to the industry growth was delivered by Snapdeal. The erstwhile number three player saw negative GMV growth, which pulled down the overall industry growth.

Entering 2017, this slow growth hampered the first half of the year, until Flipkart raised $1.4 billion led by Tencent and $2.5 billion from Softbank. Now with sufficient funds, the company is once again turning on the heat and is looking to expand the base of online shoppers in the country.

RedSeer estimates that only 20 million people in the country shop online on a monthly basis. That figure swells to 90 million if we look at the number of people who shop online at least once a year. Beyond this, there’s a base of about 150 million people who are connected to the internet but have not shopped online yet.

“If you ask me, the large e-commerce players will go after this untapped segment of buyers. What will they have to do to bring them online? They’re going to have to improve trust, provide the right value and have the right kind of products listed on their platforms,” adds Kumar.

Going after first-time buyers would supersede the need to get existing customers to buy more frequently in 2018, the contrary of what happened in 2017. While this doesn’t mean that Amazon and Flipkart would stop trying to get repeat customers, the amount of attention and resources spent on it would be far lesser than reaching new customers.

The top online shoppers in India continue to be locked in metros, but if these companies want to reach new customers they will have to invest heavily in logistics, warehousing and coming up with new models. In 2015 and 2016 e-commerce firms solely relied on discounting to get more customers to shop from them, but after experiencing the ills of that model of growth, none are expected to return to that.E-com industry to grow at 60% in 2018: RedSeer